Railway-car



1.0.NEIKIRK.

RAILWAY CAR.

.APPLlCATlON FILED JUNE 12. l9l6. 1,325,572. v Patented Dec. 23,1919.

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RAILWAY CAR.-

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12. me.

1,325,572. Patented Dec 23,1919.

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1.0.NEIKIRK.

RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12- I916.

Patented Dec. 23,1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I2, I916.

Patented Dec. 23, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN O. NEIKIRK, OF LOMBARD, ILLINOIS.

nAILwAY-oAn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 23,1919.

Application filed. June 12, 1916. Serial No. 103,225.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN O. NnIxIRK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lombard, in the county of Dupage and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ra lway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement underframe constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section of one end of my improved underframe.

Fig. 4 is a section substantially on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the car between the bolsters.

Fig. 6 is an end view of the car underframe. v.

My invention has been designed primarily for application to cars having a central hopper extending longitudinally of the car between the bolsters; but in its broad aspect the invention is not restricted to cars of that type. Hopper cars of the type referred to are illustrated and described in my prior patents, Nos. 1,098,748 and 1,112,644, granted June 2, 1914, and October 6, 1914, respectively, and in Patent No. 761,674,

granted to H. S. Hart and O. W. Meissner June 7, 1904, and No. 820,046, granted to E. S. Hart May 8, 1906. The cars described in the Hart and Meissner and Hart patents referred to have underfraines constructed of wood, and in the structures of the other two patents the underframes are constructed of steel.

In railway cars of all types it is necessary that the longitudinal members of the underframe support not only the vertical load,

of the hopper unobstructed. In such cars, therefore, it is necessary to transmit the pulling and bufling stresses from the draft sills.which, of course, must lie at the longitudinal center of the car-to longitudinal members sufliciently remote from the car center to provide the necessary width for the hopper.

I have found that longitudinal car sills of wood possess an abundance of strength to carry the vertical load due to the weight of the car and contents and that the principal cause of failure of cars having'wooden underframes is the failure to properly sustain the pulling stresses. In cars constructed with steel longitudinal sills the amount, of steel employed is vastly in excess of that necessary to take care of the pulling and I bufling stresses, such excess being necessary to efliciently carry the vertical load. The object of myinvention is to construct a car in which wood is employed to carry thvertical load and to receive the bufiing' stresses, and to employ tension members'of steel to relieve the wooden sills of the greater part of the pulling stresses.

While the car illustrated'inthe drawings is of the central longitudinal hopper type, it will be apparent that my invention in its broadest aspect may be equally useful in cars of other forms. My improved car underframe, broadly speaking, comprises metallic end structures, each complete in itself and constituting a structural unit, together with longitudinal members of wood serving to space the end structures apart and to sustain the vertical load and buffing strains, together with tension members of steelconnecting the end structures for the purpose .of sustaining tensile or pulling stresses only.

The end structures are preferably although not necessarily of cast steel. The bolsters A. are alike in structure and are preferably made in substantially the form illustrated with the top fiangel and the hottom flange 2 connected by a central vertical web 3. The top and bottom flanges are suitably reinforced by ribs or brackets 4 and 5. The center bearingG is cast integral with the bolster and a cylindrical shell' 7 connects the uppervand lower flanges of the bolster immediatelyiabove the center bearing for the purpose of reinforcing the same.

The form of the draft sills is most clearly shown'in Figs. 1 and 3., Each draft sill I comprises an upper part 8 extending above the bolster as shown in Figs. 1, 3, at, this upper part lying in the plane of the main longitudinal sills of the car. At its outer end each draft sill extends downwardly into the plane of the bolster as indicated at .9, in fact part 9 may be considered the draft sill proper, while the upper part 8 serves also as a short center sill extending from the end sill B to the bolster A, around the top of which it is fitted, and inwardly from the bolster in the for. bracket 11 which serves as a support for sue end of the central hopper. As indicated at 12, the draft sill is recessed to fit the upper part of the bolster to which it is secured by means of rivets 13.

The end sill B may be of wood or i and may be of any preferred form. Intermediate wooden sills C and D and side sill E extend upon each side of the car from one end sill to the other. These longitudinal wooden sills are of suflicient size to sustain the vertical load of the car and the buffing stresses. in order to relieve the wooden sills of the pulling or tensile strains connect the bolsters by means of steel tension members F. These tension members extend through open ings in the central web-s 3 of the bolsters and are secured thereto by means of nuts ll upon the outer sides of said webs. By this arrangement tension members F are precluded from being subjected to any buffing strains but are adapted to take the tensile strains between the bolsters. As most clearly indicated in Fig. 5, wooden longitudinal members G are provided between the bolsters just outside of the hopper for the purpose of affording support to the sides of the hopper. Truss rods 15, 1G, and 17 are provided to not only have the usual function of reinforcing the longitudinal wooden sills C, D, and E but serve also to I draw the metallic end structures into em gagement with the wooden sills so as to hold the parts of the underframe firmly in position. Thus the wood sills serve as spacing devices for the end structures.

By providing the rigid unitary metal end structures each consisting of a bolster and draft sills, I am enabled to efficiently provide for the bufling and pulling strains without using the center sill which is precluded in hopper cars of the type herein described, and can also by the structure described and illustrated relieve the longitudinal woodensills of the pulling stresses, relying upon the steel tension members for that purpose. Furthermore, the construction of the car underframe in distinct elements, namely, the metallic end structures and the connecting longitudinal sills of wood, facilitates the manufacture of the car, for the reason that the end structures maybe completely manufactured and assembled in the steel. working shop and then delivered to the wood working shop, where nothing remains to be done except the work for which the wood working shop is adapted.

V1 hile I have herein described a specific embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent that considerable variations may be made from the particular structure herein described without departing from the principles of my invention.

lVha-t I claim is:

1. A central hopper dump car having an underframe comprising end sills, metallic end structures each consisting of a bolster and draft sills, wooden longitudinal sills spaced from'the longitudinal center of the car to accommodate the central hopper and adapted to sustain the entire buifing strain between said end structures and to support the vertical load and being offset with re spect to said draft sills, and metal tension members extending between and connected to the end sills adapted to sustain the entire pulling strain between said end structures.

2. A central hopper dump car having an underframe comprising end sills, metallic end structures, each consisting of a bolster and draft sills, wooden [longitudinal sills spaced from the longitudinal center of the car to accommodate the central hopper and 95 extending from end sill to end sill, said wooden sills being adapted to sustain the bufling strain and to support the vertical load and being offset with respect to said draft sills, il'lGtELl tension members extending 100 between and attached to said-bolsters, and other tension members connecting the end sills, said tension members being adapted to, sustain tensile stresses only.

3. A central hopper dump car having an 105 underframe comprising end sills, metal end bolster, wooden longitudinal sills offset with respect to said draft sills and extending from end sill to end sill, said wooden sills being spaced from the center of the car to accommodate the central hopper andadapted to sustain the buffing strain and to support the vertical load, metal tension members extending between and attached to said bolsters, and other metal tension members connecting the end sills,.said tension members being adapted to sustain tensile stresses only.

Al. In a car having a central longitudinal hopper, end sills, metallic end structures, each consisting of a bolster and draft sills, metal tension members extending between the bolsters outside of said hopper, wooden longitudinal sills extending from end sill to end sill, said wooden sills being spaced from the center of the car to accommodate the central hopper and adapted to sustain the buffing strain and to support the Vertical load, and tension members connecting the end sills.

5. In a central hopper dump car underframe, end structures comprising end sills, metal draft sills and metal bolsters, longi tudinal Wooden sills offset With respect to said draft sills and abutting against the end structures and spacing them apart, said Wooden longitudinal sills being spaced from the center of the car to accommodate the central hopper, and tension means secured to and connecting the end sills.

6. In a central hopper dump car underframe, end structures comprising end sills, metal draft sills and metal bolsters, longitudinal Wood sills offset with respect to said draft sills and between and abutting against said end structures, said Wooden longitudinal sills being spaced from the center of the car toaccommodate the central hopper, and metal tension members connecting the end sills and for drawing said end structures into engagement with said Wood sills.

In testimony whereof I have subscribed my name.

JOHN O. NEIKIRK. 

